What I've Learned

This semester has been very busy for me. In my American Indian Literatures and Cultures class I've learned a few things since the beginning of the semester.

• I've learned that American Indians are alive and active today. This isn't to say that I didn't think this at the beginning of the semester -- it's just that now I can name authors who are producing works now that are relevant to today's times.
• I've learned that most of what I've learned in school prior to this course has been a very incomplete story.
• I've learned that I love creation stories. I think partly because I am not very religious, at least not in a "I go to church every Sunday" sort of way. I love, love, love creation stories and that American Indians believe that everything is connected.
• I've learned about a reciprocal relationship with the earth and humans and this makes total sense to me.
• I've learned that I need to try harder when I am a teacher to help diminish the misconceptions about American Indians and open my students' eyes as mine have been opened this semester.

The Truth About Stories

Thomas King's book, The Truth About Stories, was by far one of my favorites that we read in this class. There were lots of points that I enjoyed reading. His writing was more of a conversation which made it very easy to follow and understand. I loved the Afterword. He wrote "If we change the stories we live by, quite possibly we change our lives" (153). I love this quote. I think it is absolutely true. We tell stories all the time. There are some people who only tell sad stories, people who only tell stories to "one-up" the other person, some people who tell funny stories all the time. I don't know which one is better or worse. I think that some people who only tell funny stories are, at times, avoiding bigger things in their life. Using humor to avoid the situation. People who only bring up sad times can not be very happy in their life. I think the best combo is when people tell truthful stories. Ones that can teach other, ones that can share something with others.
We often go out with friends and the conversation revolves around stories. Stories are a part of us. They are in our history and in our future.
Some more quotes that I loved from the book:
"For once a story is told, it cannont be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world" (10).
"We both knew that stories were medicine, that a story told one way could cure, that the same story told another way could injure" (92).
I think these two quotes are so related, which is another reason why I loved this book. Stories are powerful. We need to be careful with them and treat them well so that they will treat us well in return.

American Indians and Medicine

One of my classmates is doing her final project on medicine. She is comparing American Indian medicine to Western medicine. I think this project is really interesting. I used to pop pills like they were going out of style when I had a backache or headache. Probably within the last 10 years I have tried to adjust that. I have learned to instead try drinking water first. Something as simple as drinking water usually cures a headache or backache for me. I have recently become interested in alternative medicine because of another issue that I have been dealing with for the last three years. I like that balance is a huge concern for American Indians and I think that there medicine practices probably reflect that as well. I also really enjoyed hearing how everything they used was from nature. Porcupine quills for needles. Another student's presentation talked about how American Indians were the first recyclers and I think they were and are still today very involved in the environment. If only the rest of us had joined in on the cause long ago, we wouldn't have a "Green Movement", being "green" would just be a part of our lives.

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